A Ninja's Promise
by Seak
Summary: Sakura has always been left behind, always weaker and always one step away from being strong but now she must face her demon and her responsibility. It was time to kill him. (One Shot)


**Author's Note: **Please note that this is an another one shot as I only do one shots and placed sometime when they're older. This is an action filled piece with a little angst or a lot depending on how you see it. I've actually had this written a long time ago but I just never got around to finishing it and now that I have, I hope you enjoy it.

**Disclaimer: **I do not under any circumstances own Naruto, all rights and ownerships belong to their respective owners.

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A Ninja's Promise

(One Shot)

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She could taste the blood, it filled her mouth and dripped down her chin, soaking her plain grey shirt. It was a copper, metal tangy taste that rolled over her tongue. She felt nothing, she was a shinobi, a tool that must feel nothing.

The ground beneath her trembled and she shot up into the trees, hoping to use it as cover and struggled to breathe through her damaged lung. She would not lose, not here, not now when she had achieved so much, she would not die as death in itself would be useless here, it would not achieve anything but his triumph.

Her eyes hooded as she stared into the shadowed leaves, struggling to sense his movement, to feel his chakra but he was good, far more skilled then she was. He had power, strength and stamina something that she did not have.

She closed her eyes and leaned heavily against the tree trunk, careful as not to cause the branch to shift under her weight. She was nothing she repeated, nothing, feel nothing she told herself. Achieve ones mission without emotions or entanglements, with efficiency and stealth, we are tools to be used, we are nothing, she chanted. She fell into a meditative state, the pain gradually disappearing, her emotions, her entanglements, her sentiments that had caused her to make so many mistakes vanished to be replaced by numbness, emptiness and coldness.

And then she leaped as the air shattered with the tang of metal, she smelt it as they whizzed passed her with deadly efficiency and into the tree trunk that she had been leaning on for support. She let herself fall back, every movement controlled and wrapped her hand around her broken rib, the rib that had punctured her lung and with practiced chakra control began to heal herself. She could feel her bones shift back into place, her blood soaked lungs slowly knitting back together and as she coughed the blood from her lungs she used her shirt to soak it up, never letting her blood fall and hitting the ground - she would not be tracked this way.

With ease her feet again found purchase against another branch and as light as a bird, flew into another tree, her every movement swift, silent and steady. She knew he was following her, knew that she could not outrun him but somehow she felt nothing, there was no need to protect anyone other then herself. He had tracked and killed her entire team, hunting them as prey and he had felt nothing, there was no regret in his demonic red eyes.

It was her who had fallen apart, her who had watched her team splatter across the green fields in a gore of red blood and body bits. She who had refused to believe that the one she had loved and cherished would do something like that and feel nothing, whose soul was seeped into darkness and the hunger of power. She had shattered emotionally, watching and unable to do anything, unable to protect her team for fear of hurting _him_.

And now she had a choice between honor and duty or her love. She knew the answer, knew that there was nothing more that she could do, nothing to save him when the man… no, the boy that she had loved was gone and was replaced by the cruel, sadistic man whose hunger for power had turned his heart into darkness.

There was no respect for this man, no dignity, no integrity, no honor, he was a man who had become a monster, a man seeped into the glory of death and blood. He was an avenger sworn to kill his brother, how ironic that he had become the man that he hated the most.

She smiled bitterly and hated herself even more, she had been unable to protect her team because she had been a coward, weak with emotions, her sentimentality and her _love_.

He was playing with her, making her think that she had managed to stay one step ahead of him, one step closer to safety and one more minute where she could regroup.

She knew better, she knew him as well as he knew her. This was but a game for him, he had patience when it came to hunting his prey and he was using it with her because she was nothing but prey, weak prey that would allow him one step closer to achieving his greatest goal. This was but a test to see how far he could go without the emotional attachments that held him back, yes she was to be eliminated to ensure that he reached his goals.

Her eyes hardened, she would take advantage of his patience and heal herself properly, she would take this chance to pull her weak emotional self into something of a ninja and she would fight. There was nothing left, he had always been her goal, her one mission in life and now they were nothing but illusions created by a naïve foolish girl - for how could she save a man who did not want saving?

She froze in horror and gasped suddenly as she began to tumble to the fast approaching ground, a tearing pain consumed her and her eyes widened in confusion and disbelief. A kunai ripped through her body like a meat cleaver through the most tender meat, blood flew in every direction splattering across the dirt shadowed floor and a tearing, liquid sound was heard as her body was torn apart.

A loud _poof _was heard, her body dissolved into gently floating cherry blossoms and the air began to fill with a sweet smell that was obviously poisonous.

Black shadows darted around the trees, searching for its prey.

It seemed his ex-admirer had some new tricks up her sleeves, how amusing that she had managed to create a clone without him noticing. She would not get away with it a second time.

She watched as he searched for her and somehow knew that this was but a clone, a chill ran down her spine and she sensed that she was the one being watched. The air rippled with power, chakra rolled in waves towards her and she almost suffocated under the pressure of it. She flinched at the coldness and screamed as tiny little needles found their way into her smooth skin. She fell from her hiding spot and down to the ground, pulling the poisoned needles from her arms and chest and sending them flying back from where they came from but there was only empty space.

She crouched low, her eyes wide and alert to any sudden movements. The sound of footsteps approaching told her that he was playing with her again for a ninja never made their presence known so obviously by sound. She waited, her entire blood soaked body brimming with tension, adrenalin pumped steadily through her veins and her heart hammered with fear but her face remained calm and blank.

A true shinobi showed nothing, even if she was about to die and she was dieing, the poison running through her system and slowly eating her chakra flow until there was nothing left inside, weakening her. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, listening to the air flow, the silence that permitted her surroundings, to even the slightest movement of the air. She slowly built up her remaining chakra, surging it through her blood and forcing it to eat away the poison that even now was reaching her heart. And as she did this she felt the air suddenly pick up, a heightened tension filled her surroundings and she knew that this was the end.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat, a tang of bitter emotions welling inside of her.

"Sakura," that soft voice whispering her name, a deep tone of finality and promise.

She looked up, her green eyes shining with tears and they fell down her cheeks silently. "Sasuke…" she choked passed her the lump in her throat but there was little fear in her eyes, there was only defeat. "I'm sorry."

And the air suddenly exploded with kunai, black glad ANBU figures appeared, their blanked, haunting animal like masks speeding towards him and he turned to her, his mouth curled into a sneer. A trap, she had willing sacrificed her team for the capture of him. Whatever happened to the importance of looking after your team, Sakura? He thought cynically and smiled.

All the more reason to kill her.

He suddenly leapt into action, he knew the ANBU would not be able to get to him in time as he was much closer to Sakura then they were but as his cloak flapped around him, the wind whipping in his face he noticed something strange about her. She was smiling.

She met him head on, slamming her fist toward his face, he dodge and felt her knuckles graze against his cheek ripping the skin from bone but it wasn't that that had stunned him, it was the force behind that punch that shook him as he found his feet leaving the ground and flying into the air. His back slammed into a tree causing the trunk to break under the force and only slowing his speed by a fraction before he continued to crash through the forest behind him, leaving a trail of broken trees and branches.

She followed, her ANBU team right behind her, determination in her eyes, she knew now that there was no going back but she had read the look of icy amusement in his eyes and she was no fool to its meaning. The sacrifice of her team… but didn't he know? As a medical ninja… it was always easy to create realistic bodies.

As they reached his landing site, the empty scene without a body told them that he had made a run for it as any smart ninja would do. She knew then that he would not be underestimating her the next time they fought.

And they will be fighting next time. She guaranteed it.

There was no longer any camaraderie between them and this had been the proof of the end of their team. With his determination to end her life, he would also ensure that there would no longer be anymore emotional attachments. Kill the weakest first and kill the strongest later. With her death, it would then be Naruto's turn.

She stared at the empty spot of earth, as the sweet smelling spring air brushed against her hair whipping it around her face. There was only silence.

She would kill him and stop his path of destruction.

That was her ninja promise.

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**_End_**


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